Superhuman's email tracking informed someone when you opened your email and from where. Even if Superhuman completely eliminated this function in response to the privacy pressure. Other applications will still be able to track your open email. Here we explain how to stop it.
While Superhuman has now removed location tracking, it still supports email opening tracking. And other email tracking applications may also allow someone who sends you an email to discover your geographic location.
How does an app track an open email?
Superhuman is using a function that has been around for a long time. It incorporates a small pixel tracking image in the emails it sends. When you open an email, your email client requests the image.
This image is unique for each email. So Superhuman can see precisely when you opened the email and your general location, based on your IP address.
This is not exclusive to Superhuman! While normally not part of a consumer email application. Many email newsletters and other marketing emails have long used tracking pixels.
They know how many people open each email. And they can see which people on your mailing list open each email.
Despite all the fury, Superhuman is only using an existing email feature. And he exposes it in a new way, although it seems more shocking to many people. Superhuman has now disabled the open tracking feature by default. But any Superhuman user can enable it.
Even if this app continues to give in to pressure and completely eliminates this function, people can still use other email tools. From dedicated applications to browser extensions that integrate with Gmail, to track your open emails.
How to stop tracking open email in Superhuman
To stop tracking email opening, you just have to disable the "automatically upload images" setting to the email client of your choice.
Superhuman's CEO, Rahul Vohra, notes that there are browser extensions such as Ugly Email and PixelBlock that can block tracking pixels. Without blocking other images, in Gmail and in your web browser. However, they will only work in your browser's Gmail and they are not guaranteed to block all tracking images.
Disabling remote image upload is an infallible method that will work everywhere. At least, it will work on each email client that allows you to disable image upload.
After disabling this, you will likely see an option to upload images every time you open an email. It depends on how your email client works. If you do not agree, you will not see images and nobody will be able to see who opened that email.
Many email clients, such as Gmail, will allow you to automatically upload images from specific senders. If you're not worried that those senders follow you.
You can easily do it in Gmail
For example, in Gmail, go to Settings and then General. To the right of Images, select «Ask before displaying external images». Now, scroll down to the bottom of the page and save the changes.
If you are using another email client. Search the web how to disable automatic image downloads in emails. In the email client of your choice.
Remember that, even if you choose to disable automatic image downloads, people can see it open your emails. If you choose to see the images after opening an email.
Superhuman itself does not allow you to disable remote image uploading yet. Which means that Superhuman users still can't block tracking pixels. Vohra promises that this feature is being prioritized.